Prescott employee and wife jailed for £800,000 swindle

A former employee of John Prescott's office who created a fake housing association to steal £867,000 has been jailed for four years.

Robert Adewunmi, 32, pretended to be a chartered accountant to get his job and then funded a "lavish lifestyle" for himself and his wife with the money he stole.

He invented an imaginary employee to sign off the payments to his fictional housing association.

His wife, Tami, 33, who was a director and secretary of the housing association, was jailed for six months.

The couple, who have two children of two and four, bought a house in Slough, three in Florida, a timeshare in Florida, a conservatory for their home, cars and three plots of land in Epsom with the stolen money.

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They also bought a £43,000 investment portfolio, a £10,000 bed, £9,000 of computer equipment, £3,000 of family portraits and photographs, and paid £10,000 off their mortgage.

Mr Adewunmi took business and upper-class flights across the Atlantic, had a gambling habit and spent £1,000 on a hotel bill.

Judge Christopher Hardy, QC, sentencing the couple at Southwark Crown Court, said: "It was not the Deputy Prime Minister's money you stole but money entrusted to him by the public, the taxpayers."

The court had heard that Mr Adewunmi obtained a job in the budget and data management department of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister as a trouble-shooter in August 2003 by claiming to be a qualified chartered accountant. But although he had registered as a student with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, he would have had to have passed a further 14 exams to qualify.

A month later he invented RTR Housing Association and began making payments to it. Several of the couple's friends and relations were listed as directors of the housing association.

Mr Adewunmi left the ODPM in September 2004. In March last year, an internal investigation into missing funds led back to him.

Stuart Samson, prosecuting, said Mr Adewunmi told police that the money was to help young people and that £10,000 had been paid to charity, but no evidence was found to support either claim. He said that Mrs Adewunmi kept £50,000 for herself.

Tristan Harwood, for Mr Adewunmi, said: "He is remorseful that this is a highly public case and will be embarrassing for the Deputy Prime Minister."

Stephen Fidler, for Mrs Adewunmi, said she did not know, although she was suspicious, of her husband's criminal activities.

Mr Adewunmi had pleaded guilty to fraudulent trading and removing criminal proceeds from the country, and Mrs Adewunmi pleaded guilty to money laundering.

After the case, Caroline Spelman, the shadow secretary for the ODPM, said: "This conviction is extremely serious. This raises yet more questions about John Prescott's leadership."